Thursday, 16 June 2016

Researchers from the Tata
Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, have demonstrated the ability to
manipulate the vibrations of a drum of nanometre scale thickness - realizing
the world's smallest and most versatile drum. This work has implications in
improving the sensitivity of small detectors of mass - very important in
detecting the mass of small molecules like viruses. This also opens the doors
to probing exciting

Chemically the same, graphite
and diamonds are as physically distinct as two minerals can be, one opaque and
soft, the other translucent and hard. What makes them unique is their differing
arrangement of carbon atoms.Discovery of gold nanocluster 'double' hints at
other shape changing particles: New analysis approach brings two unique atomic
structures into focus .

Recent breakthroughs in
creating artificial systems that outplay humans in a diverse array of
challenging games have their roots in neural networks inspired by information processing
in the brain. In a Review published June 14 in Trends in Cognitive Sciences,
researchers from Google DeepMind and Stanford University update a theory
originally developed to explain how humans and other animals learn - and
highlight

Anjan Dutta was a close
confidante of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, and was a Cabinet Minister in
the state in the past. Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Anjan Dutta
passed away on Thursday morning at the AIIMS hospital in New Delhi following
cardiac failure.Mr. Dutta, 64, was admitted to the hospital on May 18, and was
under treatment at the department of Pulmonary Sciences. He was initially

Kochi: Noted mimicry artist
Subhash died here. The artist who was noted for imitating Sri Lankan cricketer
Sanath Jayasurya and actor Kalabhavan Mani, breathed his last at a private
hospital here where he was admitted following a cardiac arrest. Subhash has
performed on a number of stages and acted in several films

The U.S. Senate has passed its
draft of the National Defence Authorisation Bill, which includes a provision to
set up a new fund to reimburse Pakistan for its efforts in war against
terrorism. The $800 million has been authorized under a provision called the
'Pakistan Security Enhancement Authorisation', reports Dawn. The draft also
fences $300m behind a similar Haqqani network provision that has existed in the
annual defence

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank on
Wednesday said it will soon issue banknotes of Rs 20 denomination with an inset
letter 'S' in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005. "The Reserve Bank will
shortly issue Rs 20 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005,
with inset letter S in both the number panels, bearing the signature of
Raghuram G Rajan, Governor, RBI," the apex bank said in a statement. The
year of printing,

Aviation firm AirAsia today
said it has signed-up with Kabali, one of the most anticipated movies in India
that stars Rajinikanth, as the official airline partner. Amar Abrol, CEO,
AirAsia India said, "We are extremely thrilled to be the airline partner
for the movie Kabali. To work with an eminent personality like Rajinikanth and
Kalaipuli S Thanu's prestigious V Creationsis of immense delight to everyone at
AirAsia. The AirAsia

India and the UK today
clinched two new key agreements on solar energy and nano technology as part of
their wider science and technology cooperation. Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister for
Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, met his UK counterpart, Jo Johnson,
here for the fifth Indo-UK Science and Innovation Council meeting today to
establish the India-UK Networked Centre on Solar Energy. “The UK is among the

Congress has expelled six of
its MLAs who cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar
Pradesh.The MLAs had voted against Congress candidate Kapil Sibal, who won with
support from other parties. Those expelled for defying party whip and indulging
in anti-party activities are Sanjay Pratap Jaiswal, Madhuri Verma, Vijay Dubey,
Mohd Muslim, Dilnawaz Khan and Kazim Ali Khan. Expelled Mohammad

Congress has expelled six of
its MLAs who cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar
Pradesh.The MLAs had voted against Congress candidate Kapil Sibal, who won with
support from other parties. Those expelled for defying party whip and indulging
in anti-party activities are Sanjay Pratap Jaiswal, Madhuri Verma, Vijay Dubey,
Mohd Muslim, Dilnawaz Khan and Kazim Ali Khan. Expelled Mohammad

Social networking giant
Facebook has introduced tools and educational resources to help people in India
who may be struggling with self-injury or experiencing suicidal thoughts. These
tools are already available in countries like the US, Australia, New Zealand
and the UK. First launched in the US with the help of Forefront, Lifeline and
Save.org, the tools were developed in collaboration with mental health
organisations

People of Gujarat would soon
be able to avail a host of government services through their smartphones and
tablets, with the state government deciding to launch a mobile application for
the same. “The Gujarat government has decided to launch the mobile app ‘Digital
Gujarat’ by August 15. Our aim is to put most of the services on the fingertips
of citizens, so that they don’t have to visit government offices,” Dhananjay

India and the European Union
have developed a cost-effective technology for treatment of sewage waste for
irrigation, especially in rural areas, using natural filters like sand and
plants. The project involves collecting the sewage waste before it reaches the
water bodies and then treat it using natural filters like sand, gravel, pebbles
and plants to remove the impurities. Under the project, many wetland plant
species, such as Canna

Antalya: Recurve and compound
women teams kept India in the medal hunt after advancing to the bronze
play-offs but it turned out to be a disappointing day for the men's team in the
third stage Archery World Cup on Wednesday. The compound women's trio of Lily
Chanu Paonam, Divya Dhayal and Purvasha Shende sprang the surprise of the day
ousting top seed Germans by six points in the quarter-final. Seeded eighth, the

United Nations: India is in
the process of implementing a project to provide a unique ID card to persons
with disabilities aimed at creating a national data base that will enable the
government to have real time information on their level of education, income
and employment status, the UN was told. "Data and statistics on persons
with disabilities is key to their inclusion in the implementation of the Agenda
2030," said Vinod Aggarwal,

Canadian poet, novelist,
literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist Margaret Atwood was
chosen for the prestigious 2016 Pen Pinter Prize. She will formerly receive the
award at a public event scheduled to be held on 13 October 2016 at the British
Library. About Margaret Atwood She is best known for her work as a novelist and
her famous novels are The Handmaid’s Tale, The Robber Bride and The Year of the
Flood

From the very onset of Apple’s
Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) there have been high anticipations as to
what would be rolled out for Apple users around the world. At the conference,
which is currently underway in San Francisco, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that
there are now over 2 million apps in Apple’s app store that have been
downloaded 130 billion times, earning $50 billion for developers. He

YU, the new age technology
brand and the fully owned subsidiary of Micromax, has announced three senior
level appointments, strengthening its core team responsible for future
expansion and growth. The company has appointed Bharat Singh Malik as the Vice President
of Service, Deepak Dahiya as Head of Sales -South and West region and Chandra
Kishore as the Head of Sales-North and East region. The move is aimed at

The amount of time people
around the world devote to using mobile internet will increase by 27.7% this
year, driving a 1.4% increase in overall media consumption, according to
Zenith’s Media Consumption Forecasts, published today. The consumption of all
other media – including desktop internet – will decline, by 3.4% in total. This
is the second annual edition of the Media Consumption Forecasts, which surveys

The Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) has extended the deadlines for comments and counter
comments for consultation paper on free data. Taking note of the stakeholder’s
request, the respective dates have been extended to 30th June for written
comments and 14th July for counter comments. The primary reason for issuing the
paper was to explore models that could identify the benefits of offering free
data. The

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder
and Chairman, Bharti Enterprises has been elected as the Chairman of the
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). He is the third Indian business leader
to hold this position in ICC’s near -100 year history. Mittal takes over from
Terry McGraw, Chairman Emeritus of S&P Global, who will subsequently become
ICC’s Honorary Chairman. The ICC World Council elected the new leaders

The Union Cabinet chaired by
the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for the Civil
Aviation Policy. This is the first time since Independence that an integrated
Civil Aviation Policy has been brought out by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The Policy aims at:

Maharashtra government has
decided to use plastic waste along with tar in a bid to improve the durability
and longevity of asphalt roads and reduce soil pollution. In the beginning,
municipal corporations with a population of over 5 lakh and municipal councils
that have a population of over 2 lakh will be asked to include plastic waste
for building roads in 50-km radius. For every 100 kg of tar used to build
asphalt roads,

According to a report on
global nutrition, the percentage of Indian children (38.7%) suffering from
stunted growth due to malnutrition is higher than that of the world average
(23.8%). The report further revealed that India has doubled the rate of
stunting reduction in the past decade, which is significant as India is home to
one-third of the world’s stunted children. Currently, China ranks 26, which is
106 notches above India, while

North Korea’s Ryugyong Hotel
is the world’s tallest unoccupied building, according to Guinness World
Records. The 105-storey pyramid-shaped skyscraper is 330 metre high.
Construction of the building began in 1987 and took 25 years to be completed,
after being halted on several occasions. Plans were made to open the hotel in
2012, and then in 2013, but were later cancelled.

The Telangana government has
sounded a “global emergency” after an active strain of wild polio virus (P2
strain) was detected in a water sample collected from a drain, prompting it to
airlift two lakh vaccines from Geneva to innoculate more than three lakh
children in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy district as a “preventive measure”.
Vaccine Derived Polio Virus (VDPV) strain has not been seen in the country for
more than five

The Rio 2016 organising
committee revealed the official slogan for the first Olympic and Paralympic
Games in South America – “A new world” – while also unveiling the medals, 52
days from the start of the quadrennial extravaganza. Along with the Olympic
torch, the medals and the mascots, the slogan plays a major part in creating
the unique identity of each Olympic Games.For Rio 2016, the core values of the

The government has sought for
public comments for draft National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy which aims at
providing a framework to promote large grid connected wind-solar PV system for
optimal and efficient utilisation of transmission infrastructure among others. The
goal of the policy is to reach wind-solar hybrid capacity of 10 GW by 2022, it
said, adding that the “policy aims to encourage new technologies, methods

The National Investment and
Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) . The MoU is to facilitate investment in
India’s infrastructure. This is with a view to attract investments from Qatar.
The MoU was signed during the visit of Prime Minister

India has joined a group of
nearly 40 nations that have signed a Europe-led clampdown on tax evasion and
corruption. This is a commitment to automatically exchange information on
beneficial ownership. According to UK’s Treasury Department in London that these
40 countries have committed to the initiative to automatically exchange
information on beneficial ownership. The next stage will be for the development
of a

According to TOI, New Zealand
wants an uniform code for expansion of NSG and no country should be exception
at point of time. On the other side, Turkey is constantly supporting Pakistan's
bid. Turkey is of the view that bids of India and Pakistan should be equally
considered. Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz has expressed his
gratitude to Turkey for their support. Meanwhile, no decision has been taken on

The NGO told a Supreme Court
vacation bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice L.Nageshwara Rao that
the Bombay High Court, which on Monday had cleared the screening of the film
with one cut, could not have interfered with the decision of the Central Board
of Film Certification (CBFC). The Bombay High Court, had directed the producer
of 'Udta Punjab' to make one cut and insert three disclaimers saying,

Giving its nod to the
much-awaited National Civil Aviation Policy, the government partially scrapped
5/20 rule in which an airline has to operate 5 domestic flights. Civil Aviation
Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the policy is a "game changer" and
that the country's aviation sector is poised to become the world's third
largest by 2022. The policy has been finalised after nearly eight months
since the Ministry came out with the

The 28thJamnalal Bajaj Awards
for Fair Business Practices is a significant milestone that recognises and
commemorates businessmen and industrialists who uphold the highest ethical
practices in business. Constituted in 1988,these awards are judged on 8 vital
parameters, including customer satisfaction, employee motivation, environmental
protection and corporate social responsibility, among others. Each year,

None of India’s premier
institutes, except for Mumbai University (world ranking 151-200), could make it
to the world’s top 200 in the Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects
2016, released on Wednesday.Compiled by the Centre for World-Class Universities
at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the ranking was topped by American
universities such as University of California at Berkeley, Massachusetts

Surat: Smitul A Vacchani,
class VIII student of Delhi Public School of Surat, got first rank in National
Science Olympiad of 2015-16. He won two international ranks in the recently
held Olympiad in Delhi organized by Science Olympiad Foundation. Nearly 45 lakh
students from over 34,000 schools from 1,400 cities across 23 countries,
including India, participated in the Olympiad exams. Nearly 45,000 students

Veteran Tamil film director AC
Tirulokachandar, who had directed over 60 movies including Tamil, Telugu and
some Hindi films, passed away here today. “He was 85 and he passed away at a
hospital here due to age related health issues and he is survived by a son and
a daughter,” N. Shan, son-in-law of Raj Chandar, son of Tirlokachandar told
PTI. The cremation would be held in Chennai tomorrow, Mr. said. Remembered

The Society of Publishers in
Asia (SOPA), an organisation dedicated to best practices in professional
publishing, presented 102 awards for outstanding journalism at its annual SOPA
Awards for Editorial Excellence gala dinner at the Hong Kong Convention and
Exhibition Centre tonight. More than 280 media executives, editors,
journalists and industry affiliates from across the Asia Pacific region
attended the event.

Kochi:
Mathrubhumi won the HR Best Practices award instituted by the National
Institute of Personnel Management. Mathrubhumi was selected for the award in
the category A for the initiatives undertaken by the institution, including the
SEED project in schools. Sud Chemie India has been adjudged the runner-up. In
category, B Appolo tyres, and in third category, Cochin Shipyard and V-Guard
Industries

Gunit Chadha on 14 June 2016
resigned as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Asia Pacific region of Deutsche
Bank AG. He will leave the office on 17 July 2016. Chadha joined Deutsche Bank
in 2003 as the CEO for the global lender’s India business. In 2012, he
was elevated to co-CEO for its Asia Pacific business and later in October 2015
was appointed as CEO for the Asia Pacific.

Shiyal Bet: An island located
off Pipavav Port in Gujarat’s Amreli district. Gujarat’s Shiyal Bet on 11 June
2016 got electricity for the first time, after 70 years of Independence.
State’s Chief Minister Anandiben Patel inaugurated the 18.35 crore rupees
project to supply grid power to the island through marine cables. CM Patel also
unveiled a plaque dedicating the electrification project to the public at a
ceremony organised in the

The United Nations General
Assembly (UNGA) on 13 June 2016 elected Peter Thomson, Permanent Representative
of Fiji, as President of its upcoming 71st session. Thomson was elected in a
rare secret ballot vote. He defeated Andreas Mavroyiannis of Cyprus by a
secret-ballot vote of 94 to 90, with one abstention.

The Fiji representative will
replace current General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft. Thomson will

Florida-based Stonegate Bank
on 14 June 2016 issued a new credit card that will allow Americans to use it in
Cuba during their visit to the country. The card will help the US visitors to
avoid the Cuban 10-percent penalty on the dollar. Pompano-beach based Stonegate
is also the first US bank to introduce a debit card for use in Cuba. The bank
announced that US travelers will be able to use its Mastercard to charge

The Union Cabinet on 15 June
2016 gave its approval for Indian membership of the International Continental
Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) consortium. The approval clears the path for
signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the GFZ - Helmholtz Centre
Potsdam (German Research Centre for geosciences). The GFZ is a
government-funded, Public Law Foundation of the State of Brandenburg,

Pune-based diabetes specialist
Shashank S Shah was conferred with the Vivian Fonseca Scholar Award 2016 on 12
June 2016. He was awarded at the ADA’s 76th Scientific Sessions from 10 June to
14 June 2016 in New Orleans. The award was given by American Diabetes
Association (ADA) for his pioneering research on diabetes in South Asia. He was
selected for his research titled Gastric Bypass vs.

Gregory Rabassa, prominent
literary translator, passed away on 14 June 2016 in Branford, Connecticut
following a brief illness. He was 94. Rabassa is known for his translations of
several well-known Latin American writers, including Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortazar, Octavio Paz, Clarice Lispector and Jorje
Amado.

he BCCI issued a media release
that also stated that Sachin Tendulkar, currently holidaying in England, will
be available via video-conference. "The cricket advisory committee which
consists of three eminent cricketers, namely Mr. Sachin Tendulkar,

The top three officials of the
Goa Cricket Association (GCA) were on Wednesday arrested by the Economic Offences
Cell of the Goa Police for alleged embezzlement of funds to the tune of over Rs
3 crore. The development has forced the BCCI to look at appointing a committee
to run GCA. According to a police spokesperson, GCA president Chetan Dessai,
secretary Vinod Phadke and treasurer Akbar Mulla were